After the SHOT release of the Raven Concealment Systems Vanguard II holster and all of the discussion that followed, Tom Fineis (Director of Sales at Raven Concealment) spoke with me regarding the holster and elected to send one to me to determine my thoughts and asked me to follow up with an honest review.

Some information about me: I’m relatively well versed in shooting as I have attended numerous classes from different reputable instructors; I shoot IDPA and ACTS (American Confederation of Tactical Shooters) and train with numerous law enforcement (local & federal) as well as active and former military. I’ve been involved in firearms for 11 years and have owned just about every major brand name firearm and accessory at some point in time. It’s no secret that I like Raven, I’ve been buying their products for a long time, but I won’t say that I haven’t purchased another brand in a pinch only to sell it and replace it with a Raven at a later point in time. I’m by no means brand loyal, but from the holsters that I’ve evaluated, I feel that the fit and finish of Raven is superb compared to the other kydex holsters that I have owned and/or evaluated.

Now, I have been carrying IWB for going on 5 years and last year when the AIWB “craze” made its way onto the marketplace, I bought a G19 and decided that I would try to AIWB. You’ll even see if you search the AR15.com archives that I posted a thread here asking about good holsters to do so with as did I on another popular gun website that cannot be named here. I ended up ordering a Raven Appendix Carry Rig, Garrity In-Victus, Custom Carry Concepts Shaggy and the Archangel Appendix Carry AIWB to take my pick of the litter, so to speak. My favorite by far was the Garrity In-Victus as I am relatively thin (6’0” and 185lbs) and I found that the kydex holsters all jabbed me in my lowermost rib when bending over as well as all feeling quite cumbersome on my waistband. But even with the Garrity, the gun and holster just felt too cumbersome for comfortable daily carry up to 16 hours per day so eventually after a couple months of attempted AIWB, I switched back to carrying IWB at 4:00 with a Raven Phantom LC.

I will be honest in that I’ve only been carrying in the Vanguard II for 5 days now at 14-16 hours per day, however – I have a better initial impression with this holster than any other AIWB that I’ve carried. The arm on the holster in combination with the soft loop, allows the gun to move nearly independently from left to right and up to down, which is great because your body is constantly moving (breathing, walking, etc).  The gun moves away from my stomach when I sit down because of the independent movement, therefore I don’t find it jabbing me in the ribs like with many of the other holsters that I tried. Ride height is also adjustable, with the arm having two attachment points (as pictured) and the soft loop having three different mounting points as well.  The retention is very good and the holster (while injection molded) does have the slide and lock of the gun that Raven is well known for.

Appendix carry certainly is a required taste but if you choose to, I would humbly recommend the Raven Vanguard II as one of the best options available to do so. I will also say one last time to clarify that I do not work for Raven, or have any involvement with them other than as a customer.

Edited to fix a grammar error.

Onto the pictures -

Here is my standard carry gun, a Smith and Wesson M&P 9 worked over by ATEi with an X300 attached in a Raven Phantom LC. You can see the size difference between that and the G19 in a Vanguard II.


Vanguard II pictures-





Pictures wearing the Vanguard II-




Please feel free to ask any questions that you may have and I'll do my best to answer them.

How do you reholster?

Raven recommends removing the holster from your pants before you re-holster.

Raven will tell you that it is unsafe to re-holster with the holster still inside your waistband, because you are likely to get something caught in the trigger guard and shoot yourself. I also recommend that route, HOWEVER with an unloaded gun, I tested re-holstering and was able to determine that I feel that I can safety re-holster without removing the holster in a pinch but won't be doing so unless absolutely necessary.

Have you tried it at 3:30-4:00? How does it compare to other IWB set-ups in the more traditional, non-AIWB location?

To be honest, I have not tried that position with this holster. I'm actually getting ready to run out the door, so I'll try it that way for the rest of the day and report back.

Cool, thanks! Any word on an official release date for the masses?

I want one of those.

There is supposed to be an "announcement" tomorrow regarding the VGII on their Facebook page.

Ah ha! Sounds good.

How secure laterally is the gun in the holster?

Meaning can you pop it out moving the gun perpendicular to the conventional draw?

Is this a tuckable holster?

If so, could you post a pick with the shirt tucked in to include a front and side view please?

Very secure.

Retention in general is quite strong on this holster, stronger than my phantom; therefore, lateral retention is very strong as well. The gun will pop out but not completely, if you push hard enough towards the slide of the gun, the gun will pivot in the holster, almost as if someone has put a pin through the trigger guard. But as I said, it takes quite a bit of pressure in an un-natural direction to make that happen.

Yes, it's tuckable. I'll have the fiancee snap a pic after she gets done making me desert .

ETA:
Pics -

Here are my thoughts -

Very very very comfortable, however I have the same dilema that I did when carrying with a Supertuck, I have a big issue getting a proper initial grip because there is no medium between the gun and skin. It's a comfortability v. functionability debate and everyone has their own thoughts on that topic, but I'll stick with my phantom for carrying in that position. In a pinch, this would serve just fine though.

Right on.  Sounds like you gots it made.  

Thank her.... apropriately, for us.  

How does it feel sitting down?

It feels great to me; the arm and soft loop combination allow the gun to move out of the way of my rib cage/stomach when sitting down or bending over. Belt tension also plays a role here as I don't keep my belt cranked, just nice and snug.

Thanks for the tucked pics and the feedback on behind the hip carry. I want to get one to try.

Excellent review

I'm not much for AIWB, as I don't find it very comfortable for me, but it's nice to know that If I change my mind, something like this is out there. I was concerned about the level of retention this would offer, but it seems it's ok. Looks like it would work great for many people!

If nothing else this seems to be the PERFECT thing to keep in your glove box just in case.

What if you are out and the snaps break on your daily holster?
What if you carry OWB and it warms up and you'd rather not wear your coat?
You carry at 5 and an emergency comes up and you have to drive a couple hours away, carry this appendix or right at 3 for better seated comfort.

Just a couple ideas. Minimalist carry isn't for everyone, but everyone can use a small, storable plan B.

Thanks for the review. I'm going to have to pick one up. Krav class has convinced me that AIWB is the way to go.

Digging the Ares Ranger belt.

Have just recently (past few months) started trying appendix carry. So far I am really liking it. Have been trying a Smartcarry on and off for the last week or so. It carries great, forget it's there, even while sitting. Only issue I am having with it is I don't wear my pants baggy. It carries great and does not print at all, but a quick draw would be near impossible.

My dominant carry weapon is an HK P2000 LEM. I feel with the hammer, and the ability to keep my thumb firmly on the hammer while reholstering, this may be a good setup. I was very skeptical when I first saw these. And I had not noticed anyone mentioning Raven suggesting that you remove the holster from your person before inserting your pistol into it. I think that is a VERY good idea with some of the light trigger pull striker fired pistols.

When these become available I will definately try one out. Hopefully these can be produced with a little better turnaround time than some of their others. That is my only complaint with Raven. I have paid above new price for used holsters just to get it quick.

ETA: Just went to their Facebook page. Guess it will be a long while before I will be trying it. They are saying it will be some time before they offer it for anything but Glock.

I hope they make one for a S/W 340PD.

Looks good, mine's on order!

I've been carrying A-IWB several years now with Raven's ACR.  I look forward to getting my VG2!

How did you order it? I don't see it available on their site yet.

Yes, I keep checking their site but don't see it yet either.  Of course I'm not on Facebook so there might be some info there that I'm missing out on.

I'm on their facebook and I haven't seen any info about it being released but I'm pretty sure that there is a pre-sale today.

Now available for Pre-Order -

Read that, then order Here.

Thanks for posting that. Ordered.

Eighty bucks? I thought projected price was half of that.


http://militarytimes.com/blogs/gearscout/2012/01/18/raven-concealment-intros-the-vanguard2/


Edit -never mind, the image wasn't loading before. I see the coupons code now.
Edit again - between my screw up and my realization of my screw up, I sent an inquiry to Raven. Mr. Fineis responded immediately, and was very gentle in dealing with "that guy".

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

 

Ordered...

Ordered mine. Thanks for sharing that!

Since they don't offer the option to choose make/model, I'm guessing Glock?

Yes, Glock only for now.

Yep, Glock 9/40 only right now.

I have been crazily checking the RC page for over a week now.  I am glad i Stumbled on this little nugget or pre-order goodness.

Looks like a scaled back version of the holster I just bought at Dale Frickes website , the Joshua covert . Hard to go wrong with either company though.

What is that belt?

Had seen that before. Was it ever actually released?

I'm assuming it's also right-hand only for now?

Nope, ambi. Just switch the side the loop's on.

The one in Kimber's pictures? Ares ranger belt. Got mine two weeks ago, and absolutely love it.

Deal breaker for me.

It's  not intended to be a replacement to a conventional holster.  It fills a specific role.

Awesome, thanks!

Originally I was leaning toward "deal breaker" and have posted as such. But, I've ordered one now and I believe, or at least will be evaluating, if in fact there are some specific roles that the VGII can fill when there are no other options. For CCW, options are good.

Even when first seeing these, it was never a deal breaker for me, but I've always took my time re-holstering anyhow, to make sure I wasn't getting anything caught on the trigger (as I shoot primarily glocks.)

To clarify, for a purely CCW role, I don't have any disagreement. For a LEO role, the ability to quickly reholster one handed without looking at the holster can be of paramount importance. Because of this, I initially decided the VGII would never be for me. But as I considered times when I may have limited other carry options for concealment and/or may not be acting in a LE capacity anyway, I'm now looking into the VGII to perhaps serve in those limited roles.